The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Niger Delta Basin Development Authority (NDBDA), Prince Ebitimi Amgbare has kicked off radical reforms in the authority to tally with the objectives of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s renewed Hope Agenda and Sustainable Food Security.
The move which is hinged on Amgbare’s determination to reposition NDBDA for what he called “better and higher productivity” in the years ahead.
Maritime Bits checks revealed that already, the Ogobiri, Sagbama Local Government Area, Bayelsa State born prince has embarked on radical progressive changes to attain set goals and objectives.
These include the dissolution of NDBDA Procurement Unit that had hitherto witnessed lack of integrity for decades and curtailing workers laxity to work that was gradually becoming a tradition which has led to a retrogressive development of the hitherto vibrant authority.
The repositioning exercise started in December 2024 with the inauguration of a 14 member verification exercise which has unveiled lots of rot in the system.
These were disclosed by Amgbare in a chat with journalists shortly after he engaged in various meetings with enlarged NDBDA management team in the Rivers State capital, Port Harcourt recently.
He averred that the repositioning exercise is to prepare the work force for more productivity because some landmark achievements recorded so far such as commercializing its farms and assets which is attracting a lot of investors.
According to him, other projects ready to take off this year include deep sea fishing in Port Harcourt, the abandoned rice farms in Peremabiri and Isampou in Bayelsa State, Kpong, Isiokpo and Asiama farms in Rivers State, and others in Delta State.
His words: “We thought it is important to keep them ready for these investors that are coming. The investors need to find our workers very useful when they come around. That was why we came up with the verification exercise which is very encouraging. We decided to top it up with attendance exercise which some people in the workforce would resist positive change especially if it is taking them out of their comfort zone”.
Apparently giving an insight into why he has been holding regular meetings with the authority workforce, Amgbare said they were made to understand the need for the radical reforms in NDBDA.
“We have been engaging with various strata of the work force including the enlarged management staff and the workers congress. We have come to terms that it is important we come to work. It is their primary responsibility to be committed to the job they applied to do. So we have taken that from them. It is a little to the right and a little to the left. The most important thing is that there is a consensus for us to move forward”, he said.
Amgbare reiterated that the ‘attendance exercise’ will continue and it is for the good of the government agency just as he added that the dissolution of the Procurement Unit is to strengthen the process and protect the integrity of the process he met on ground.
He disclosed that in its place, an ad-hoc committee regarded as a genuine process will be put in place.
The NDBDA helmsman explained that in the ad-hoc process, there are already trained personnel for it and they will be picked at random to do the job.
His words: “We have a workforce that has been trained for procurement. We will take them and use them for that purpose and after that we dissolve it. The benefit is that the integrity of the process is protected. The corruptive nature of the system has been in place for decades. When they know you as a member of the committee there is the tendency to lobby you ahead of time.
“That is the disadvantage of having a permanent committee. They lobby you and get you ready to do their bidding. So we reviewed the last process. This was based on some lapses contained in the report submitted by the head of the committee herself. We were hearing various figures being bandied here and there. We felt that the major thing about this process is integrity. That is why we felt that we should make it fluid. We do not know who is there. When it is time to execute any project, we just constitute the committee and go into it and finish the matter
“The other option is to bring a consultant. However, that option also has its own drawbacks but we are not totally discarding it. If we see that we cannot protect the integrity of the process enough, we will go for the consultants to come and do the job and go. But what is important is protecting the integrity of the process”.
Amgbare stressed the need to enforce the core civil service rules in the system to check discipline and laxity to work.
According to him, the rules are there. No civil servant is ignorant of these rules. They all know it. The basic thing we are talking about is, come to work and you know when to come to work and close for the day.
On why he was embarking on radical reforms in the authority, the NDBDA helmsman said: “On the whole, the reforms are progressive changes. They are designed to bring progress and only an enemy of progress will resist it. We have made them to understand that some of these things we do not need your permission because we are not going out of the civil service rules. It is only when we are infringing on your rights, then you complain. However, we are not infringing on your rights as worker. It is the rules. We are just giving effect to the rules and because they have been laid back for so long, they are finding it difficult to adjust”.